Is Teaching EFL Right For Me?

So you have been seriously thinking about starting a new life abroad as an EFL teacher – one filled with exciting new experiences, new friends and weekends relaxing on the beach. Before you make the leap here is the type of person who is most successful at teaching EFL:

Willing to try new things

The people who have the best time when teaching abroad are those who never turn down an invitation. You’re there to experience a new culture, so embrace the unexpected and the unusual!

Patient & Calm

Teaching English abroad, especially if you’re teaching kids, can be pretty frustrating at times. Wherever in the world you are, kids are kids, and can lose interest and start playing very quickly. The good news is that a calm and orderly teacher usually makes for calm and orderly students. So as long as you can keep calm and carry on you’ll be fine!

Open-minded

When you start teaching English, you won’t just be starting a new job, you’ll probably have just arrived in a totally new, alien country too. It’s important to keep an open mind about any cultural differences you encounter, including crazy new foods, initially strange-seeming etiquette and nonsensical bureaucracy.

Willing to make mistakes

Good teaching is all about trial and error – no one gets it right the first time! So, even if you’ve done loads of TEFL study, when you first start teaching lots of your classes will feel like total disasters. Don’t be disheartened – you’ll soon find that for every couple of activities or lessons that flop, you’ll hit on one that’s a rip-roaring success. And once you’ve got a good idea of what flops and what flies, you’ll be set.

Enthusiastic

You do need to be enthusiastic about the idea of teaching and ready to get stuck in and start helping your students, otherwise you’ll soon find your time abroad feels very long indeed.

A good listener

Being a good listener separates a mediocre teacher from a fantastic one – a good teacher will keep an ear out for the mistakes his/her students make and work out how they can correct them in subsequent classes. A bad one will just ignore their students’ efforts to talk – which do you want to be?

Flexible

No matter where you’re teaching, things in the TEFL world have a pesky habit of changing at the last minute: working hours changing and timetables being overhauled are just some of the most common issues, while schools dropping contracts at the last minute are at the more irritating end of the spectrum. As a teacher there’s not much you can do to avoid these last-minute changes, so it’s important to be flexible and embrace the unpredictability of things!

Friendly and approachable

No one wants a grumpy teacher – while it’s important to maintain a degree of professional distance between yourself and your students, you’ll find them much more willing to cooperate in class if you’re fair, friendly and approachable.

TEFL Zorritos: What could be better? Study in a beautiful Peruvian beach town at our beach-front outdoor training centre with great accommodations available, including delicious local food. Fully accredited 120 Hour TEFL course with a practical approach that provides you with 10 advanced certifications at absolutely no extra cost! And a job placement program in Peru & guaranteed lifetime job assistance waiting for you when you complete the course.